Dave Brubeck Has Plenty to Play at Birthday Concert

How does Dave Brubeck feel about his 80th birthday, which arrives Dec. 6?

“Good,” he says, in his characteristically upbeat manner. “I made it. I hope.”

The Los Angeles entry in what actually is a yearlong Brubeck birthday celebration takes place Wednesday at the Hollywood Bowl, when he appears with his quartet (Bobby Militello on alto saxophone, Alec Dankworth on bass and Randy Jones on drums) and the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra.

Among other events on his busy schedule, he will also appear in London in December with his four sons in a concert with the London Symphony Orchestra.

A conversation with Brubeck, in fact, includes a bewildering array of dates, names and places, as he lists a schedule of performances that would be hectic for a man half his age. But he has few complaints, even though at least one of his physicians has expressed concern about the nonstop activities.

“He wants me to slow down,” says Brubeck, a major jazz figure for more than 50 years.

Then, with a laugh, he adds, “But another doctor came to hear me play and said that after two hours I had more energy than when I started. So he thinks that I shouldn’t slow down. He said, ‘Something’s going on up there when you’re on stage, and it seems as though it’s pretty good for you.’ ”

Given that kind of energy, it’s not surprising that Brubeck will debut some new music at the Bowl.

“I’ve just written 13 new tunes,” he says. “I don’t know which ones we’ll do, but we’re recording in about a month and so I’m trying to get ready for that. I have so much new stuff, as a matter of fact, that I’m having a hard time getting to the new things I wrote six months ago. And that’s a drag. Sometimes the guys will say, ‘Why don’t we play such and such? That was a great tune for us.’ And I tell them, ‘Well, we’ll get to it, but we gotta work out this new stuff first.’ ”

How does he find time, given his schedule, to produce so much music?

“On airplanes and trains and cars,” he says. “That’s how I basically have to work. When I get home, I check it out on the piano, but most of the time I’m writing while we’re on the move.”

Brubeck’s Bowl appearance will, however, make at least one or two nods to his many familiar classics. “Blue Rondo a la Turk” will be performed by the quartet with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. And his famous “Take Five” will receive a special performance.

“I’ve asked [bassist] Eugene Wright to come up and do ‘Take Five’ with us,” he says, “because he was on the original. And I’m happy that he’s agreed to join us.”

Although Brubeck’s focus is determinedly contemporary in terms of his work--the past year has seen orchestral works, songs, quartet pieces, etc. flow from his pen--he is well aware that it is the older material that most people remember.

“The thing that surprises me, though,” he says, “is how different it is in each country, and the way in which people know the songs. In Paris, for example, you’ll hear a snatch of ‘Blue Rondo’ at 9 and 11 o’clock on the news. In England you’ll hear ‘Unsquare Dance’ on a commercial. And here, a recording I made with Jimmy Rushing, ‘There’ll Be Some Changes Made,’ is also a commercial.

“And the funny thing is that people sometimes want to hear those tunes because they’ve heard them on commercials, not because they know the originals. Sometimes when I play something like ‘Take Five,’ they’ll come up and ask about the song, and they won’t know the name but they’ll know the commercial.”

Despite his approaching 80th birthday, the only complaint that the ever-optimistic Brubeck will admit to is one that is common to most touring artists.

“Traveling is a killer,” he says. “The jet lag, that’s what hurts. Just recently, for example, the day after we left Montreal, we went to Pasadena, and the next day we did three concerts in New York. And that was just after we’d been to Germany. Believe me, that really messes up your body clock.”

But occasionally, in a rare solitary moment, Brubeck comes face to face with his rare and impressive longevity.

“I have a couple of pictures in my studio,” he says, “of me with some other people. And I look at them and realize that--of the whole bunch--I’m the only guy left.”

He laughs again and, in another rush of dates and names, mentions a solo violin piece he’s just written, and a performance of one of his works by a brass ensemble in New York City’s Bryant Park, and a recording of his string quartet, and so on, and so on.

“I’ve still got a lot to do,” concludes Brubeck. “So I just keep doing it, one day at a time.”

* The Dave Brubeck Quartet appears with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra in Lexus Jazz at the Bowl, Wednesday, 8 p.m. Tickets: $5 to $70. Hollywood Bowl, 2301 N. Highland Ave. Information: (323) 850-2000.

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Festival Track: The 18th annual San Francisco Jazz Festival has set an extensive program of performances from Oct. 25 to Nov. 5, with two additional special events: the Keith Jarrett Trio on Nov. 18 and John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain on Nov. 19. Other highlights include:

* An opening-night program on Oct. 25 with Abbey Lincoln (celebrating her 70th birthday), Jimmy Scott and Hank Crawford.

* “Excursions on the Edge” on Oct. 27 with Lee Konitz and Paul Bley and Trio Three (Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman and Andrew Cyrille).

* A solo performance by Cecil Taylor on Oct. 28.

* Saxophonists Joe Lovano and Greg Osby performing solos in the Grace Cathedral on Oct. 29.

* The Andrew Hill Sextet and the Jason Moran Trio on Oct. 31.

* An evening showcasing three female European jazz organists--Barbara Dennerlein, Rhoda Scott and Trudy Pitts--on Nov. 2.

* Eliades Ochoa, Orquestra Aragon and Cubanismo! on Nov. 3.

* A McCoy Tyner solo appearance on Nov. 4.

* Brazilian jazz with Toots Thielemans, Oscar Castro-Neves and Kenny Werner on Nov. 5.

Tickets range from free concerts to $65. Available online at https://www.sfjazz.org and at (415) 776-1999.

And a last-minute reminder about the 11th annual AT&T; San Jose Jazz Festival Saturday and Sunday. The largest free jazz festival in the country, it will feature more than 115 groups--including Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Roy Hargrove, Kevin Mahogany, Poncho Sanchez, Randy Brecker, the band Hiroshima and dozens of others--on 10 different stages. Information: (408) 288-7557.

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Don Heckman can be reached by e-mail at djh@earthlink.net.